First Record of the Sungrebe, Heliornis Fulica (Boddaert, 1783) (Gruiformes, Heliornithidae), from Piauí, Northeastern Brazil

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Soares et al NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 13 (5): 411–415 https://doi.org/10.15560/13.5.411

First record of the Sungrebe, Heliornis fulica (Boddaert, 1783) (Gruiformes, Heliornithidae), from Piauí, northeastern Brazil

Leonardo Moura dos Santos Soares,1 André Bastos da Silva,2 Anderson Guzzi2

1 Universidade Federal do Piauí, Campus Professora Cinobelina Elvas, Departamento de Biologia, Br 135, km 3, Planalto Horizonte, CEP 64900- 000, Bom Jesus, PI, Brazil. 2 Universidade Federal do Piauí, Campus Ministro Petrônio Portella, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente, Núcleo de Referências em Ciências Ambientais do Trópico Ecotonal do Nordeste, Av. Universitária 1310, Ininga, CEP 64049- 550, Teresina, PI, Brazil. Corresponding author: Anderson Guzzi, [email protected]

Abstract This study presents the first record of the Sungrebe Heliornis fulica for the state of Piauí in northeastern Brazil, a first sighting also in a Cerrado/Caatinga ecotone. On 19 December 2014, a female Sungrebe was collected by a local fisherman in the Corrente River located between the towns of Capitão de Campos and Piripiri in the northcentral part of the state of Piauí.

Key words Ecotone; Parnaíba River watershed; Corrente River; aquatic bird; geographic distribution; conservation.

Academic editor: Johan Ingels | Received 31 May 2017 | Accepted 8 July 2017 | Published 11 September 2017

Citation: Soares LMS, Silva AB, Guzzi A (2017) First record of the Sungrebe, Heliornis fulica (Boddaert, 1783) (Gruiformes, Heliornithidae), from Piauí, northeastern Brazil. Check List 13 (5): 411–415. https://doi.org/10.15560/13.5.411

Introduction The state of Piauí has an extensive ecotone zone at the intersection of the Amazon Forest, Cerrado (Neotropi- The family Heliornithidae includes only 1 species, Heli cal savanna), and semiarid Caatinga (deciduous, thorny, ornis fulica (Boddaert, 1783), which is widely distributed dryland vegetation), and it represents the largest phyto- throughout the Neotropical region but apparently with ecological domain in the Parnaíba River watershed (Sousa low population densities (Bertram and Kirwan 2017). Its et al. 2009). Due to the climatic complexity of the region preferred habitats are quiet forest streams and rivers, and and its habitat heterogeneity, this ecotone zone harbors freshwater ponds and lakes, with overhanging riparian many bird species (Gonçalves et al. 2017) and has been vegetation. These aquatic birds tend to swim near the veg- surveyed since the beginning of the 20th century (Hell- etation hanging from the river banks, taking refuge under it mayr 1929, Pacheco 2004). Surveys are now more intense at the first sign of danger. They feed on aquatic insects and within conservation areas (Novaes 1992, Olmos 1993, their larvae, as well as beetles, ants, spiders, crustaceans, Zaher 2001a, 2001b, Santos 2001, Olmos and Albano amphibians, and small fish. Sungrebes are difficult to 2012, Santos et al. 2012, Silveira and Santos 2012, Guzzi observe in their natural habitat, due to their inconspicuous 2012), as well as in less-protected sites (Santos 2004, color pattern and secretive behavior (Ingels and Tauleigne Olmos and Brito 2007). 2011). Sometimes when disturbed from their roosts at Although numerous studies in recent years have night, they are caught in fishing nets (Sick 1997). focused on the birds of Piauí, there are no records of

Copyright Soares et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 412 Check List 13 (5)

Figure 1. Map showing new record of Heliornis fulica from a section of the Corrente River located between the towns of Capitão de Campos and Piripiri, north-central Piauí in a Cerrado/Caatinga ecotone and other records from northeastern Brazil. Soares et al. | First record of the Sungrebe Heliornis fulica for Piauí, Brazil 413

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Figures 2, 3. The female specimen of Sungrebe Heliornis fulica collected by a local fisherman in the Corrente River located between the towns of Capitão de Campos and Piripiri in the northcentral part of the state of Piauí, Brazil. 2. Side view. 3. Dorsal view. Photographs by A.B. Silva. the occurrence of H. fulica. As such, the present study fisherman, the Sungrebe was captured about 200 m down- reports the first record of the Sungrebe for that state, a stream of the Oiteiro dam (04°28′37″ S, 041°50′11″ W) first sighting also in an ecotone area (Cerrado/Caatinga). (Fig. 4), in the Longá watershed. The specimen was Additionally, this record extends the known range of that brought to the Center for the Reception of Wild Animals species towards the interior of northeastern Brazil. (CETAS) of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Resources (IBAMA) of the state of Piauí, for release back into nature later. Methods The characters that aided in the identification of The region where the specimen of H. fulica was col- this Sungrebe, a female, were: head and neck strikingly lected is situated in an ecotone zone (Rivas 1996) at the confluence of Cerrado and dryland Caatinga vegetation (Jacomine et al. 1986) (Fig. 1). The climate is hot and semiarid, presenting 6 months of drought and has an average annual rainfall of 800–1000 mm, with the heaviest rains occurring between January and March (CODEVASF 2006). The average annual minimum and maximum temperatures of are 22 °C and 33 °C respectively (Lima 2002).

Results On 19 December 2014, a Sungrebe H. fulica was col- Figure 4. Corrente River between the towns of Capitão de Campos lected by a local fisherman in a section of Corrente River and Piripiri in north-central Piauí, Brazil, where the female specimen located between the towns of Capitão de Campos and of Heliornis fulica was collected about 200 m from the Oiteiro dam Piripiri in northern-central Piauí, Brazil. According to the by a local fisherman. Photograph by A.B. Silva. 414 Check List 13 (5) marked black and white, cinnamon cheeks typical for References a female, red eye-ring, and reddish maxilla (Mata et al. Bertram BCR, Kirwan GM (2017) Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica). In: del 2006) (Figs 2, 3). Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J, Christie DA, Juana E (Eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. http:// Discussion www.hbw.com/node/53707. Accessed on: 2017-4-24. BirdLife International (2016) Heliornis fulica. 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